Gravity And Suffering
by D-Tepes
Summary: No good deed goes untortured. After stopping a group of demons, Xander finds himself in a personal hell. X-over, New Jedi Order
1. Prologue

Title: Gravity and Suffering   
Author: Drake-Tepes   
Summary: No good deed goes untortured. After stopping a group of demons, Xander finds himself in a personal hell.   
Rating: R   
Spoilers: End of Buffy & Angel. Post-UF for the XO.   
Disclaimer: I don't own Jack... hell, don't even know Jack. Yes, that joke was painful for me too. So painful in fact that none of you who hold the rights to these characters will sue me, right? I mean, obviously that joke demonstrates I've suffered enough.   
Author's Notes: Hi all, it's Drake again. Note the not naming of the XO? Why not? Suspense, I hope. Though I think before long some of you may recognize it and then it's rather pointless, but I do want to try. Also, I want to state before you read this that I do, in fact, like Xander. Really I do. Honest. It just may not seem that way for awhile. To anyone waiting on a sequel to "Dark Times: In The Age", it is being written but it's muse ran off and the muse for this story came by. This story is very much a WIP, no where near done and I'm doing something a bit different and posting it without me having it all done. So parts may take awhile. Okay, I need to majorly thank Mark, again, for being my beta and helping to keep my facts straight and the story coherent. One last thing, credit to Louie Says for helping to inspire the title.   
Feedback: Yes, please. I'll sit up and beg and even roll over for it. 

* * *

Xander had arrived in Johannesburg a week ago, just a week, and already the shit had hit the fan. After arriving, getting used to the heat was his first priority. He'd sent Andrew a fish, hoping it would get the annoying man to leave him alone and had let the others know he was well. He still wasn't used to the heat that was present even at night, so he was already covered in sweat even before the fight had begun.  
  
The fact that he had interrupted five vampires and three unknown, but large, demons who were in the middle of a ceremony -- and the thought that he might not have interrupted them -- sent a chill down his spine. He'd just been walking around whatever small city he had traveled to that night as he was constantly on the move and never quite sure where he was, loaded with holy water, a cross and a couple of stakes, when he heard low chanting. Surprisingly, it was in a language he didn't recognize, because though he knew fluently only English, his time as a Scooby made him familiar with the sounds of all the normal ritualistic languages.  
  
His eye fell upon the unmoving figure of a young woman, with hair almost the same shade of red as Willow's. The cuts on her bare torso and wrists accounted for the blood used to form the circle that surrounded the demons. Bile rose in his throat as he looked at the girl, and for just a moment saw Willow's face. Anger burned inside of him, prompting him to act immediately, damn the consequences.  
  
Xander charged in quickly, managing to take out two of the vamps before anyone was alerted and then another in the immediate confusion. The demons stopped their chanting just after the third vampire was dust in the wind and for a moment Xander thought he'd managed to stop the ceremony. Then he noticed a shimmer in the air and saw what he assumed had to be a portal. Seeing the three demons move toward it, Xander threw one of his two stakes at the demon and winced internally as it went into the demon's left eye, killing it.  
  
The momentary mental wince allowed one of the two remaining vampiress to tackle him as the other and the demons went through the portal. Rolling on the ground, Xander was thankful for the holy water as it's bottle burst in his pants pocket. The glass shards in his thigh hurt, but the holy water seeping through to the groin of the vampire distracted it long enough for Xander to drive his remaining stake through it's heart.  
  
Standing up and wincing at the pain in his thigh, Xander looked at the portal trying to decide what to do next. Pulling out his cell phone, he was glad to see he had full contact. Hitting the memory button for Giles' number, his shoulders sank as he got voice mail. "Giles, this is Xander. I just interrupted a ceremony by some vamps and these brown demons, six and a half feet tall, muscled with tattoos carved on them. There's a dead one where I am. One vampire and two of the demons made it through a portal they were opening. Nothing's come through so far, I'm thinking they have to meet whatever they were wanting on the other side. I'm going to go through and try and stop them, so I'm glad this is voice mail so you can't talk me out of this. I'm going to leave my cell on, so if you don't hear from me have Willow do her mojo and find my phone and see if you can find a way to get me back. And if I don't... You've been like a father to me Giles, you all mean a lot to me. Let everyone know I love them. I wish I had time to say more but the portal is shrinking. My love to all, see you on the flip-side and don't forget the Twinkies!"  
  
Xander closed the connection and hid his phone where it was unlikely to be found by any passersby.  
  
With one last breath, Xander jumped through the portal.


	2. 01

The landing on the other side of the portal was rough, and as Xander blinked in the sudden harsh sunlight he also tried to get some dust out of his eye. Blinking clear he could see a scorch mark and dust where he landed, and thanked whoever was listening for small favors. Casting his gaze about, he immediately knew he wasn't in his own dimension as none of the local flora remotely looked like that of Earth. Also, he noticed one of the two demons coming for him, now holding a rather large sword.  
  
Standing quickly, he ignored the irritating tingle of pain he felt throughout his body and backed away as he tried to find the other demon. As he looked he was hit hard in the back of his head, knocking off his eye patch and him to the ground in front of the demon. Looking back he saw the other demon coming at him, seeming to laugh in it's language at him. It threw it's sword hard into the ground point first and came at Xander.  
  
"Oh this can't be good," Xander said as he scrambled to his feet in pain, only to be met with the demons' claws across his chest, shredding his shirt and adding new scars to his chest. He stepped back and held an arm over his chest and jerked back when the demon clawed at his face, limiting it's damage to a cut over his remaining eye.  
  
He tried to blink away the blood that was now pouring over his eye when his right knee exploded in pain and he fell to the ground. Through the red curtain of blood he could make out his leg now bending the wrong way, his knee snapped backwards. He surprised himself by not screaming, but by trying to back away. Inside though, he was berating himself. He'd thrown himself into something foolish again, only this time he was going to die far away from his friends and they'd never know what happened. Another disappearance, like so many of the people he knew growing up.  
  
Xander made out the demon's hand coming at his neck and grabbed the stake he'd so far not had a chance to use and slammed it as hard as he could into it's palm. The demon reared back and screamed, seemingly shaking the planet as Xander tried to scoot away from it. With a roar the demon kicked Xander hard in the chest. It's clawed foot scoring long cuts on his chest and ripping the shirt completely from him, as the force sent Xander flying through the air a good ten feet to land at the base of a small bush.  
  
Xander could feel the pain acutely, every nerve in his body was hurting and he wanted to scream so badly, but he didn't. He'd felt something pop and break in that hit, and he was having trouble breathing. He'd made peace with death a long time ago, but internally he vowed not to go out without a fight. Grasping blindly, as his vision was heavily blurred by the blood, both hands found on either side of him what felt like medium sized branches. Ignoring the pain he felt when he grabbed each of them, as what must have been sticks or sharp edges on the branches dug hard into his wrist, he waited to perform one last act of defiance, which he backed up by flipping the bird at the demon as it rushed him.  
  
Quickly putting his good leg under him, he timed his blow just right. As the demon reached him, he surged up quickly, shoving the branch in his left hand toward the demons eyes while he slashed with the one in his right at the demons neck. Knowing it was futile and he was about to die, he smiled grimly through his bloodied vision, his face then turning to shock at what he saw happen. Whatever he held, they certainly weren't branches. The thing in his left hand easily speared the demons' eye and the one in his right completely took it's head off. Maybe these demons just has tissue paper necks, but whatever it was, Xander was still alive and it wasn't.  
  
The roar from the other demon made Xander hop in its direction to see it. This one had its sword held high, not even masking it's intention to bisect Xander. With a quick prayer that the saviors he held in his hands would save him again, Xander braced himself the best he could. As the demon got close, time seemed slow as the demon began its downswing. Xander moved his left arm up, hoping to block with what he'd found but not expecting to live, but hoping that the slash he was aiming with his right hand at the demons' midsection might score enough damage to prevent it from completing it's plan.  
  
Unfortunately for Xander, his plan worked too well. The thing he held in his left hand met the steel of the demons sword, the sword was cut in two as it met the amazingly sharp edge, sending it's tip out of alignment to cut part of Xander's scalp open. The rest of the blade continued down, even as Xander's right hand slash cut the demon cleanly in two at the waist. But the slash from what remained of the demons blade hit Xander in the chest, even as his good leg gave out, and cut him from sternum to navel. Xander's falling at the same time was the only thing that kept all of his insides from being split in two.  
  
On his back, Xander's eye looked through the red tint at a beautiful sky with a sun a bit larger than home. He ordered his thoughts, and told all his friends in his head goodbye. Hoping somehow they'd know how much he loved them, he resigned himself to his fate. It was then that a hideous face blocked the view of the sky. It may have once been somewhat human, but now it lacked a nose or lips. Massive scars and tattoos dominated the demonic face that looked down on him. Somehow he felt it was smiling at him, as he felt it grab his arms and begin to drag him. He gave out a mental curse, before he passed out. It seemed that while he resigned himself to fate, fate had other plans. 


	3. 02

Pain. His universe consisted of one sensation, of one fundamental truth of existence. Pain. Every fiber of his being, every cell of his body, all that he knew, rang with pain. He couldn't even scream. Who he was no longer existed. All that he had known before ceased. All that there was now was pain.  
  
The human mind is a wondrous and unknown entity. It's self-preservation instincts beyond anything we can believe. To block memories that would harm the person. To deal with issues subconsciously for the benefit of the waking mind. So many wondrous things. All to survive. To survive the pain, Xander's brain did what it needed to survive.  
  
Memories cannot be truly erased, merely blocked. And inside Xander's mind lived all the memories of a soldier who was trained to ignore pain. The mind ravaged the memories it held of the soldier, taking parts of it and immediately enacting the ability to push aside the pain that was lessening its grip on sanity. Once the sensation of pain was diminished, even only as slight as was possible, the mind awakened. 

* * *

Xander's eye opened to the vision of a cave-like ceiling. Trying to sit up he found his arms and legs were immobilized. Raising his head at least, he could see his arms and legs encased in clear, vaguely crystalline blobs for lack of a better term. Around his arms were coiled what looked like snakes.  
  
His eye picked up that his right knee was properly set and long slits were made in the skin there, opening it up. He could see something moving in the opening and was glad he couldn't feel it, it might not hurt but he doubted the sensation of something moving inside of him would be pleasant. Then on to his chest, where he had basically been gutted, he saw small creatures, looking like demented crosses between leeches, maggots and spiders going over the previously opened wound. They seemed to be eating the blood, fresh and dried, and, with a twist to his stomach Xander noted, excreting a substance over the wound.  
  
He then felt a skittering on his head and did his best to look at his forehead. He was rewarded for this by seeing another of the creatures on his forehead. This definitely wasn't what Xander wanted to find when he first woke up. His body was becoming acclimated to the pain, but still letting him have some tactile sensation. It was then he felt a squirming movement in his left eye socket, not the movement of the other creatures. This one seemed to be rolling around, as best as Xander could feel.  
  
Squashing the competing urges to scream and throw up, Xander lay on his back and was still. Whatever had him was apparently trying to heal him. That was good, unless they wanted a healthy sacrifice, he thought to himself. He knew he'd stopped the demons and he'd already said his goodbyes and made his peace, whatever happened now he'd deal with it as it came.  
  
At this thought he heard a rustle of movement coming from his feet and raised his head to look. Another of the creatures he saw before passing out was there, though this one's head reminded him of Medusa as it seemed to writhe slowly, and the creature, Xander noticed what looked like breasts so he dubbed it a she, she had a right hand with snake-like fingers too. With a broad, ill sitting smile the woman walked up to where his head was raised, trailing the fingers of her left hand on his body and tracing a few of the numerous scars on his chest. He barely saw the movement as one of the fingers on her right hand shot out at him, hitting his neck. He then fell unconscious once more.

* * *

The one who had originally found Xander entered the room where the female was checking the creatures moving along Xander's prone body. Motioning toward Xander's scarred chest he asked the woman something in their own language. With a nod of her writhing head she ran her vaguely serpentine fingers over his scars and spoke back. The man again spoke, and the woman moved to Xander's head, peeled back his left eyelid and pulled out a small red caterpillar type creature and bade the man to come look at the socket which was now exposed, and raw. With a nod, the man moved back as the woman now dropped five small white pupae in the socket and smeared a clear gel over the eyelid, which immediately hardened, sealing it.  
  
The two beings continued to talk over the unconscious body, the woman often pointing out parts of Xander's body and explaining something to the man. After minutes of this discussion, something the woman said had the man reaching for his ear, only to stop at the woman's shaking head. Another discussion, somewhat heated then with gestures from the man. The woman said something with finality to it, and the man left the room. The woman tilted Xander's head back then and dropped a handful of small black creatures in his mouth, then held it shut until he involuntarily swallowed.


	4. 03

Xander awoke to the freedom of being able to move his arms and legs. Going with his first impulse he ran his fingers across the long nasty scar that now bisected his upper body, and noticed that the pain wasn't as unbearable there as he'd thought. The pain that was burning throughout his body, however, was quite noticeable. It took most of his will power to push it aside enough to think, focus and move. He again thanked whatever let him retain that piece of the soldier's life and training, to push the pain to a place where it wouldn't interfere. And marveled that what he had thought was a private would have been taught that.  
  
Testing his leg while lying down, he again noticed less pain than he expected and was pleased to note his skin was again closed, though scarred. Bending the knee carefully and rotating it, he found that he had good movement, and sat up to gently put pressure on it against the floor where he had a place to land back on. With tentative moves and easing, he managed to stand and note that he could walk. He couldn't even detect a limp in his walk.  
  
He was getting ready to leave the room when he noticed something odd with his left eye, the lid seemed to be sealed shut. As he'd moved now, he'd also felt something moving behind his eyelid, but not like the other day. Try as he might, he couldn't get his eyelid up. Feeling it, he could now tell something like crazy glue was over it, holding it closed.  
  
The woman reentered the room as he was feeling around his eyelid and the substance holding it shut. None-too-kindly, the woman slapped his hand away and spoke to him as she checked him over with her weird hand. Nodding as she checked, the serpents in her hair licked the air and looked at Xander interestingly.  
  
"Um, hi. I appreciate you patching me up but is there any chance you could tell me where I am?" Xander asked the woman, who looked at him blankly. Continuing, Xander tried again. "Maybe who you are? Who the other guy was? What the hell is crawling in my eye socket!?" The last bit said loudly.  
  
The woman spoke to him in her own language and stuck a finger in her ear and looked at him again before shaking her head. It was when one part of her serpent hair got too close to his nose that Xander remembered that he had snakes on his arms before the woman knocked him out. Looking at his arms he noticed them still coiled around his arms. Not quite sleeping but thankfully not writhing on his arms either. He tried to pull one off without any progress; it was like they were metal works of art wrapped around his arms.  
  
Finally the woman finished poking him, to which Xander was glad, when she called outside of the room. The same large creature, a male Xander assumed, entered the room and started speaking to Xander in the same language. Staring blankly at the man Xander just gave up, realizing he wasn't going to be able to speak with the demons. When Xander said as much to the demon, it seemed to just stare at him before gripping him behind the head and leading him out of the room.  
  
It was during the dragging that Xander became acutely aware that the man was wearing only a loincloth and a snake on his right arm. Once they left the room Xander was standing in an open area on the planet he'd landed on. The sun was high and the heat coming down was not quite as bad as Africa had been. Xander saw others like the two creatures he met. Some farming, it seemed. Children, also scarred but to a much lesser extent, were around. Some watched him and Xander could tell they didn't like what they saw in the least. One even yelled some comment that the man replied to forcefully, backing him off.  
  
Looking around, a nagging feeling settled in Xander that he recognized this species of demon. He could remember reading their description, but nothing came to mind. Try as he might, nothing came to him. Lost in the frustration, Xander didn't notice the man coming to halt in front of him until he was already there.  
  
Xander watched as the man flexed his right arm and the snake uncoiled and slid down his arm until it's head was at his wrist and its body was stretched out full length, taut and hardened. Xander watched amazedly as the man sliced downward with the snake, cutting completely through a stone beside him. It was then that Xander realized that the branches he'd used in a pain filled haze had actually been the snakes. The man motioned Xander to watch as he ran a finger along the snakes' head in a certain way that made the snake go limp in his hand, another way and the snake stiffened again and then another way which had the snake coil up the man's arm.  
  
When the man motioned to him, Xander tried it on both snakes and watched amazed as both went limp. The man nodded in approval and motioned for Xander to lay them both down on a table, where he deposited his own snake. The man then picked up two long sticks and tossed him one. Looking it over, Xander equated it to being like a thick yardstick. It was roughly the same length and width as a yardstick, but had a small, sharp ridge running down opposite sides of the shaft.  
  
Xander was still looking it over when the man motioned him to follow. He noticed they'd entered a small clearing in the village, as Xander decided to call it. With no time to react, understand or even form more than a mental "Oh shit", the demon charged him. 


	5. 04

In the room once more, Xander sat and rubbed the sealed slashes on his arms and gave a glance at those now adorning his chest. No sci-fi or fantasy he'd read or watched ever prepared him for this situation. Xander had done his best to defend himself when the man attacked with the stick, and managed to deflect a few blows but was still cut up badly. Meanwhile he hadn't even managed to touch the man with his counterattacks, and he had the impression the guy was holding back.  
  
They'd sparred, at least that's how Xander saw it, for what felt like two hours. Xander's watch had died a quick and shattered death when he tried to deflect a blow and ended up taking it at the wrist. Once the sparring was done, Xander pointed to himself and spoke his own name, in hopes of conveying it to the creature. The 'man' had spoken what sounded like "Shunmy Vorek", then pointed at Xander and said "Xandurr."  
  
Once the introduction was done, Shooey, as Xander decided to call him, led him over to a small creature and squeezed it, receiving a... goo from it for the trouble. Taking the substance, he rubbed it off his hand over one of Xander's cuts and motioned for him to continue. Seeing that the goo was stopping the bleeding, Xander quickly applied it to all his open wounds and thanked Shooey, despite how badly the wounds now burned. Shooey didn't seem to understand. They both retrieved their snakes, Xander only doing so at Shooey's insistence.   
  
Shooey led him out into a field where others of his kind were working, and quickly showed him what to do, before leaving him to tend to the... whatever they were. It wasn't easy work, each one needed to be tended to individually. Bare-chested and in jeans so tattered they had become ratty shorts, Xander toiled in the hot sun for hours.  
  
Finally all the workers were called back in, including Xander who was now ready to drop. Shooey led him back to his room and gave him tubers and some recently deceased meat to eat as well as fresh water. After eating everything down and ignoring some of the taste he looked around for someplace to answer the call of Mother Nature. Seeing something that at least vaguely resembled a chamber pot, he hoped for the best and used it before lying back on the slab he'd woken up on. So tired was he from the day he didn't have the energy to think of an escape. Just a moment to send a prayer out for his friends safety, and he was asleep. 


	6. 05

The next day began much earlier since he'd already shown he was able to work. It began with Xander checking the wounds from the day before. The cuts didn't hurt as much today and the pain easily faded into the background haze he'd been experiencing since his arrival. The visible marks had sealed, but his chest, arms and legs were covered in lines that looked to fade no more. New scars would now and forever crisscross his body, and he knew he must have more on his back as well.  
  
Shooey gathered him early from his room and led him to a group of Shooey's people. Pointing at the group Shooey shoved Xander toward them and left. It wasn't the nicest of company to be left in, as several of those gathered glared hatefully at him. A couple looked confused by his presence and said something that sounded like it was about his eye. At least that's what part of the word they whispered sounded like in English.  
  
The work his group was tasked with was carrying rather heavy... things. "Things," Xander muttered to himself. "I'm tired of calling everything a thing. Thing this, creature that. The language thing... UGH, this language barrier is pissing me off. Couldn't my torturers at least have the decency to speak my language and gloat?" Xander's mutterings earned him glares from those near enough to hear him. One even went so far as to trip Xander, sending him falling forward and slamming his chest hard against the object he was carrying. Having the feeling that stopping to catch his breath would be a bad idea, he got back up and resumed carrying the thing. The pain from two ribs he'd bruised faded into the haze that he was becoming used to.  
  
When the hottest part of the day came around Shooey pulled him out of his work group and they returned to the clearing in the village. Again they both removed the snakes before Shooey grabbed the sticks, what Xander decided must be training sticks to fill in for the snakes, and tossed one to Xander. Gripping his stick, he ignored the slight pain holding it caused. Xander set his feet shoulder length apart and slightly bent his knees as he waited for the attack.  
  
After the previous days spar, Xander had assumed Shooey would attack him straight away, instead he was circling him this time, outside of Xander's reach. As Shooey began to move out of Xander's view, forcing him to move, Shooey struck as Xander was moving to keep his eye on him. Working the blind spot, Shooey struck Xander's left leg as he was moving it backward to reorient himself. This unbalanced Xander and forced him to slam his leg down to keep from falling, a momentary lapse that let Shooey get two quick slashes in, across his left thigh and shoulder.  
  
Xander moved back out of range and settled his feet now for quicker movements rather than bracing for a powerful slash. Shooey stabbed at Xander's right side, prompting Xander to shift his body to one side and use his stick to force Shooey away from him, a move Xander had seen work in numerous action movies. What those movies failed to show, however, was that when you perform that move, it leaves you open to a solid punch to the head -- at least, it does if you have a blind spot that shields your opponents lunging left arm from view.  
  
The punch nearly caused Xander to lose consciousness, but he struggled through and watched Shooey's shadow until he thought Shooey was preparing another slash. Moving back as quickly as he could, he avoided the slash that would have hit the back of his neck and sent him to another wake-up in his room. Grabbing his stick with both hands he swung like a batter toward Shooey's midsection as he was pulling back from the failed slash. Shooey moved quickly back out of the way and batted Xander's stick away with his own. Undeterred and now wanting badly to at least land one hit on Shooey, Xander moved forward to slash at Shooey's right leg even as he was slashed along his right shoulder. Ignoring that pain he did his slash only for Shooey to step casually back and let the stick slide less than an inch in front of his kneecap.  
  
Shooey did another quick strike and fire blossomed along Xander's collarbone and sent him falling forward. Trying a last ditch move he slashed upwards as he fell, aiming for Shooey's groin. So intent was he on trying to get that one strike in that he failed to notice Shooey's foot before it hit his face. He barely registered it before he was again unconscious.  
  
Shooey looked down at Xander's body and nodded. Xander hadn't scored a hit on him, but as Shooey looked down he did spot one thing amiss. The loincloth he was wearing was slashed. The sight caused something akin to a chuckle from his hideous visage as he reached down and picked Xander's body up. 


	7. 06

Sorry for the delay, computer problems abounded. So, who has figured out the crossover already? If you hadn't gotten it yet, you'll get it this time for sure... if you're familiar with the crossover. :)

* * *

When Xander came to it was nighttime. He ate and then used the facilities, such as they were. He was surprised when he tried to open his door to go outside. "Okay, door's unlocked, assuming this funky place can be locked, and I'm unguarded. Either they're classic idiot villains or there isn't anywhere I can go. Oh how I hope they're idiots," Xander said under his breath as he snuck out.  
  
It was a moonless night, but through the clear night sky Xander could make out two distinct planets. After a moment, his eye adjusted enough that he thought he could walk safely, an illusion that was quickly shattered when he fell flat on his face. His fall saved him from discovery. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed movement that he quickly identified as some of the villagers. It didn't look like a lover's stroll, so he guessed they were sentries. Xander noted their direction and took off the other way, leading him right into the field where he'd spent an afternoon with funky plants.  
  
He'd found out the hard way exactly how sharp the leaves at their base were while he was working with them. He'd added a few new scars around his ankles. They came up to his chest and had dark red flowers on them. He'd watched with interest as one had apparently matured and was harvested. He saw them take the flower off and take out a yellow bulb then hollow it out with some type of knife. From the bulb came what looked like a glowing sunstone. Now as Xander made his way through the stalks he tried to remember where he saw one that looked like the one they'd opened the day before, assuming that's how they were ripe. Finding what he was looking for, he ripped it off its' stalk on his way through the field. A moment later he was out of the field with only a dozen or so bloody streaks on his legs from the leaves.  
  
Breaking for a grove of trees a good fifty yards from the edge of the field, Xander made his best time and kept quiet. Once under the canopy of the strange trees virtually all light was gone. Groping blindly, he managed to husk the bulb and grasp the sunstone. He had to blink as it lit up, showing him the area. It dimmed immediately and his eye had a chance to adjust. Just as he wished it would get a bit brighter like it had before, it did as he thought. "Either I'm losing it or you're the next step of evolution for the Clapper," Xander muttered to it, before realizing what he was speaking to. A minute of just thinking at it to dim and brighten confirmed that it was following his thoughts.  
  
Picking his way through the undergrowth Xander shone the light around looking for a nice tall tree that he might be able to climb. He'd walked roughly twenty feet in before he found one to his liking. Wishing he had something to hang his light on, he settled for holding it in his mouth and hoping it was non-toxic. He'd nearly fallen twice, and choked once, by the time he gotten to the canopy. Winding himself about the tree, he saw that he'd managed to climb one of the tallest ones in the forest. The feeling of accomplishment lasted only a moment before he registered what he saw. Looking out he could see no signs of civilization, other than the village he'd come from and what appeared to be another village only larger. The layout and homes looked the same and there looked to be some sort of path linking the two villages that he could only barely make out from his position.  
  
His mind was processing this, how truly lost he was, when he saw it. A quick decision and Xander was falling toward the ground as lightning arced along the tops of the trees and down toward the ground. Barely avoiding he ran his way back to where he entered the forest, listening for thunder that never came. He exited the canopy of trees and gasped for breath. He was surprised to see the sky still clear, but he could still smell ozone in the air. Sitting himself down and breathing, he pushed aside the thoughts of the lightning for a moment. Pulling his knees to his chest he looked out into the dark clearing and thought.  
  
His choices were limited now. It seemed these creatures were the only inhabitants, or at least the closest ones to him, on the planet. He went over the options he now had. He considered hiding in the forests until his friends rescued him, but the brief time in the forest disinclined him of that idea. He had no idea of the local fauna. He had no idea what to expect. Also, now, there was no place for him to run. He had been hoping for some way out of the village. Some way he could live outside of it. Instead his trip had driven home to him how far out of his depth he was. His desire to escape had been squashed by the fact he now doubted how he'd survive out in the woods, as he could now hear the lightning even in the clear skies.  
  
He was basically being beaten in the village so far, but, he admitted to himself, not as much as they could be doing. He'd seen what they had, what the snakes could do and he was nowhere near as good as Shooey. He could take Xander out faster than Xander could eat a Twinkie. If they kept on the pace that had been set the last two days he'd been awake, then Xander thought he could manage it. A part of him realized that Shooey was training him for something. The pain he was dealing with, both the constant irritating buzz he'd had since he'd gotten on this planet, and the wounds he'd been dealt were making their presence felt as he thought. Nagging pains and itches.  
  
He couldn't believe he was actually going back to the village. But for now, it offered some protection and food. He was willing to pay the price for that in blood, it wouldn't be long before he was rescued he knew.  
  
As Xander returned his back was turned to the forest where a hand moved back a cloak's hood and Shooey's head was revealed, the rest of him still hidden. With a nod and returning the hood over his head, Shooey followed Xander back to his room. 


	8. 07

Oh, and to confirm for those who suspect and alert those who had no clue... The crossover, so far, is... drum roll Star Wars...  
  
This story is set Post-UF in the NJO book series, in the EU. Those who have read this will be wondering about some things, most likely, about how it is some things are working when last shown they weren't. I will be getting to that.  
  
As for anything else, including the Jedi and the Force and whatnot... Well, that's still quite a few parts away. But I think it's safe to say that some familiar faces will turn up.  
  
Well, I hope you all enjoy. Back to Xander in the Embrace of the Yuuzhan Vong. 

* * *

Shooey's foot pushing him firmly against the ground was the first thing Xander registered when he awoke. The next he registered, at the same time scream issued out of his throat, was Shooey cutting into his back. He felt long swirling slices being made in his back, close together. Then a more horrifying sensation came to be as Shooey grasped the strip of skin between the cuts and pulled, removing a long strip of flesh from Xander's back.

His foot still immobilizing Xander, Shooey cut off the remnants of Xander's jeans and underwear and ripped them roughly off his body. In the process Xander's wallet and the sunstone that Xander had gotten the night before fell out in front of Shooey, who picked up the sunstone. Shooey took his foot off Xander and waited the moment it took for the scream to end. When Xander stopped he sat up on the floor carefully, keeping his back off the wall and keeping his hands covering his newly exposed self. Shooey motioned to Xander's bed where there was a loincloth as well as a full-length cloak of some type.

Glaring at Shooey Xander spoke, "You couldn't have fucking asked me to change clothes? Use some damn sign language? You had to come in here and cut me open and strip me?" When Xander saw that his words had no effect on Shooey, he let fly a few more curses before he stood up. Unhappy, but seeing no choice, he stopped covering himself and got dressed, putting his wallet in a pocket of the cloak. The loincloth did offer some support as well as some modesty in excess material, in this case leather, hanging over the front and rear. The cloak was a little heavy and seemed to almost pulse. It felt a little like it was massaging his body, and it wore a good bit like a full size duster.

Shooey led the newly dressed Xander out to his morning work, not having given him time to eat. The joy of carrying heavy things for a few hours quickly met Xander. A part of him enjoyed the manual labor, of having something to do and distract him from thinking. The hours passed quickly, and then Shooey was there leading Xander to the clearing. Resisting the urge to strike Shooey from behind with the snakes, Xander followed to his usual place and removed his snakes. Taking his stick he prepared for another sparring match. 

* * *

Landing hard on his ass Xander quickly rolled to the side to avoid the follow-up slash he thought would come down where he was and tried to stand quickly. Unfortunately for Xander, Shooey hadn't slashed but watched to see what Xander's next move would be. Seeing his roll he anticipated where Xander would stand, which lead to the sticks' tip slashing Xander's left cheek open as the rest of it tore through his flesh and hit his clavicle. A yelp of pain escaped from Xander's throat as he scrambled backwards and using the stick in his right hand barely slapped Shooey's away before it could stab his chest.

Xander aligned his body, keeping his wounded side away from Shooey and wielded the stick single-handedly. Shooey was stronger by far than him and Xander knew at this point he'd already lost. Now he was up for one last act of defiance. He lunged at Shooey and swung the stick, like he'd swing a flyswatter, and hoped Shooey would do as he hoped. Instead of blocking Xander's pathetic swing, Shooey stepped back and swung his stick and hit Xander's in the same direction of Xander's swing. The stick went flying out of Xander's hand and he over balanced, stepping toward Shooey who grabbed him and pulled him back first against him. This actually was what Xander had wanted, as he acted as fast as he could before Shooey could reposition the stick. A sharp kick was aimed at Shooey's right shin at the same time Xander's right elbow struck Shooey's ribs. Continuing, Xander slammed his head back as hard as he could but missed Shooey's chin and ended up banging his head into Shooey's collarbone.

In most beings that would have been enough to precipitate them letting go of whoever they were holding. In Shooey's case he paid little mind to the pain and brought his stick hard across Xander's chest producing a nice long gash that bled freely. Then Shooey slammed his own head against Xander's, dazing him and making him go limp. Dropping Xander he put his stick against Xander's chest until he seemed to come out of it. Raising his arms on the ground, Xander hoped he'd accept it as his giving in. Shooey nodded and walked over to the creature again and motioned for Xander to join him.

Stopping Xander, Shooey used his fingers to open the wound on Xander's collarbone despite Xander's cursing. Using his arm to hold Xander still he poked at it then nodded, and gestured to the creature. Doing as he'd seen Shooey do, Xander grasped the creature and squeezed out some of the goo. Putting it on the deep wounds on his collarbone first he followed up with coating the cut on his chest. He dabbed some over the cut on his cheek, hoping he got it all. Shooey stopped him when he went to get more for the various other small cuts on his body though most had either stopped or slowed their bleeding. Shooey took the creature away and motioned for Xander to put the cloak on.

Shooey led Xander back to the field he'd worked in previously, and tried to escape through the night before. When they got to the edge of the field of plants, where Shooey was leaving him, he was stopped before entering. Reaching into a pouch on his loincloth, Shooey withdrew the sunstone Xander had gotten the night before, now set on some type of leather chord. He placed it over Xander's head and let it set against his chest before leaving. Xander looked down at the stone, and was then very startled when he got a look at the chord. Fingering it a moment, Xander realized where the skin from his back had gone.


	9. 08

Kennedy looked on, lost, as her lover paced back and forth. They had caught the first flight out of Rio for Africa and less than twenty-four hours later they were in the small town that Willow had tracked Xander's cell phone to. Giles had managed to catch an earlier flight and was waiting for them. He'd already checked out the scene that Xander had left, calling in a detailed description of the demon and the ritual to the still-reforming Council to have it researched.

Giles was on the phone now with the researchers. They'd all returned to the room he'd rented after Willow had gone over the scene herself. Using all her abilities she tried to feel for the portal to get some indication of where it led and how to get Xander back. Everything she tried failed, and her frustration and fear were not only taking their toll on her, but those with her. She'd rebuffed Kennedy and Giles' attempts to comfort her, and she continued to pace.

At first Willow had held it together as she worked through everything she could think of to find Xander. As each spell failed and each avenue dead-ended, Willow's control slipped. She'd exhausted all the spells she'd known to try earlier, and since then she'd been pacing with tears flowing. She'd admitted to being afraid of being afraid for him or being angry at what happened to or because of him. She'd sunk herself almost into depression out of the fear of what she might do if she were to get angry over what happened. Even for Xander she couldn't walk that path again.

"Willow, please sit down," Giles said as he set the phone back in its cradle. Willow sat quickly, turning an expectant and hopeful gaze onto Giles. Her look clearly dimmed as she caught the aborted movement of his hand to his glasses. "The researches came up with a little information. The demons were T'nkwacs," Giles started, his voice shifting into a lecturing mode. "They're a nearly extinct demonic race of warriors. They're nearly extinct because they were the best warriors, but they never changed over the years. They never adapted as technology came. Mind you, not many do, but their usual victims did and advance and turned the tables, many of them banding together to decimate the T'nkwacs.

"T'nkwacs were known for seeking glory and adulation for, shall we say, shoddy work. They'd be hired to go to war and would end up destroying as much of their employer's holdings as their enemy's. I believe the researcher liked the term 'glory hogs,' they…"

"Giles, I think we get the idea. Could you move it along?" Kennedy interrupted. She'd been watching Willow while Giles explained, and could see her girlfriend getting more and more upset.

"Oh, yes. The ritual itself is something that none of the researchers had seen or heard of. It's similar to others, all made to open portals to specific places or times. We could attempt to do the ritual ourselves, but without knowing the location they intended to go, or how the alignment of heavenly bodies or, or even what Xander may have done to interrupt, there really is little… there is nothing we can do right now to retrieve him," Giles finished, the last of it choking him up slightly.

Kennedy held Willow as she began to shake and cry out no and call for Xander. The brunette's heart nearly broke for Willow's pain. "Giles, we can't find him but is there some way to know if he's okay? I don't understand magic but couldn't there be something?" Kennedy asked as she continued to comfort the sobbing Willow.

Giles was silent for a moment as he thought, before snapping his fingers and standing quickly. Rummaging through a bag of magical supplies he'd brought, Giles pulled out a small glass sphere, the size of a large marble. "Willow, did you use anything personal of Xander's for your spells?"

The puffy-eyed witch nodded, "I use a lock of his hair that I made him give me before he left. I want to make sure I had something so I could… could find him."

"Willow, do you still have it with you?" Willow nodded. "Please go get it. We may not be able to find him, but I think we'll be able to know if he's okay." Willow sprang into action, nearly running to her bags to get the baggie she'd kept Xander's hair in. Finding it quickly she handed it to Giles, who had pulled out a couple of containers of magical herbs.

"Hold this please, just like this," Giles said, placing the sphere in Willow's hands with an opening facing up. "I need you to concentrate very hard on Xander, on your memories for him as I do this. Okay?"

"Yes, you're creating a life orb, aren't you?"

"Yes Willow," Giles said. Then he began a low chant as he added various items in small measures to the sphere. Kennedy looked on, not understanding what was happening but hoping in some small way it would help Willow. It wasn't long until the clear sphere was dark with herbs and Giles added Xander's hair. The moment his hair touched the other ingredients there was an overwhelming bright light. When everyone could see again, the sphere was now solid, no opening.

Willow let out a sob and nearly collapsed as tears fell again. "Giles, it's not glowing… if he were alive…" Willow nearly dropped sphere, Giles grabbing it and setting is aside as he held the girl he thought of as family.

"It may be that he is merely too far away for our magic to detect him Willow, it doesn't mean he's gone. He's… a remarkable young man… no, he's a remarkable man Willow. Don't count him out yet," Giles said as he held willow tight to his chest.

"Guys, look again," Kennedy said from behind Willow. She'd instantly moved to give comfort too, when she saw the sphere beginning to glow. The others turned to look at the sphere, now giving off a steady, soft white light. "I think that's good, right?"

Willow let out a near hysterical laugh and hugged Giles before hugging Kennedy. She then moved over to the sphere and looked at it carefully, then looked hopefully at Giles. "He's really alive, isn't he?"

"Yes Willow, he is," Giles smiled at the look of relief on Willow's face. "When we leave here, we'll go see the coven at Devon. I'm sure they'll be happy to add their magic to help search for Xander. And they can always make us up a Nodmas orb to alert us when Xander is back on earth." At Willow's look, Giles gave her a fatherly smile. "Don't count Xander out Willow, I truly doubt we've seen the last of him." 


	10. 09

The moment Dawn opened the door she knew something was wrong. She quickly bypassed joy at seeing her friends as dread settled in at seeing their faces. She stood back as both Willow and Giles entered without an invitation, allowing a bit of tension to ease from her. "Buffy!" Dawn called before either Willow or Giles could speak. Looking at them both Dawn asked, "Did something happen to Kennedy?"

"No Dawnie, she flew on to Cleveland to… to break the news there," Willow avoided eye contact as she spoke. Dawn noticed that Willow was playing with a small, lightly glowing orb on a necklace.

Another look over the duo and Dawn felt the bottom of her stomach begin to fall out. "Where's Xander?" As soon as Dawn had said his name Willow pulled the taller girl into a tight hug and started crying. Immediately Dawn began to cry into Willow's hair as she kept saying no, oblivious to Buffy's entrance.

"What…" Seeing Dawn clinging to Willow and the two crying, Buffy turned her gaze to Giles. "What's going on Giles?"

"Buffy, perhaps you should sit down," Giles started then looked to Willow and Dawn. "Willow, would you…" At this Willow led Dawn down to sit beside her on the small couch, while Buffy took a seat in one of the chairs.

Giles took a seat as well, and to Buffy's eyes truly looked what must have been his age. A sad and weary look to his face and a near defeated slump, barely noticed in his shoulders, set Buffy on edge. "We," Giles started, motioning to Willow, "just returned from South Africa…" Giles held up a hand, forestalling Buffy's questions.

"Xander had left a message for me, saying he'd stumbled across a ritual sacrifice, or some such thing. He arrived too late to help the victim but had done his best to interrupt the ritual, however some of the demons made it through a portal they'd created. He'd left the message for me after they'd gone through, describing quickly what he saw and… and that he loved you all." There was a pause as Giles looked Buffy in the eyes, noting out of the corner of his eye that Willow was holding Dawn tighter. "He followed them through."

"What… why would he do something so… I thought he was past this recklessness," Buffy began, anger in her voice.

"Shut up!" Dawn yelled. "This isn't the time for that Buffy. You know why he'd do something like that, he'd risk anything if it could save a life. Just… Don't."

"He was afraid something dangerous might be coming through the portal and went to try and stop it," Willow said with a sniffle. "It's so stupid and brave and idiotic and heroic and… so Xander."

"And by all accounts, it worked," Giles said with a look at Buffy. "As far as we can tell, nothing came through the portal. We can only assume that Xander stopped it. We've researched the demons and… it's quite a feat that he managed to kill one of them. Possibly even the others on the other side of the portal. He… he did well, he did us proud."

Buffy didn't seem to pick up on the verbal cues in how Giles spoke, as she asked, "Can't Willow just, you know, magic him back or something? Open the portal back up so we can go get him… Or…" Buffy's eyes misted over and she stared Giles hard in the eye. "He's dead, isn't he?"

Dawn let out a loud whimper into Willow's shoulder again as Willow stroked her hair. "He's not dead," Willow said as she pulled away from Dawn. "We… we can't get a portal to him, there are too many variables for us to find him. But we managed this," she said pulling the glowing necklace up to show both girls. "It shows us that Xander's still alive. As long as this orb is intact or glowing, we know Xander's alive. It can't be broken except…" Willow took a deep breath. "It can't be broken unless Xander dies. So we know wherever he is, he's alive." Willow graced them both with a watery smile. "Where there's life, there's hope."

A giggle bubbled up from Buffy, quickly changing to a strangled cry as she rushed to embrace the crying girls on the couch. Dawn even managed a smile at the line, before more tears fell as they all held each other. The three women stayed that way for a few minutes, crying and reassuring each other. Giles finally stood up after watching the display, absently rubbing his eyes, before muttering about making some tea. Buffy gave one last squeeze to Willow and Dawn then extricated herself to show Giles where everything was in the kitchen.

As soon as she stepped in the kitchen, Buffy gave Giles a piercing gaze. "What aren't you telling us Giles?" She watched as he pulled off his glasses and cleaned them, that little bit of home, of something she was so used to, eased the pain that had settled in her chest since Giles had broke the news. "Xander isn't this reckless, not anymore. What happened?"

With a sigh, Giles put his glasses back on and motioned Buffy further into the kitchen, further away from the possibility of being overheard. "I got to the ritual first, before Kennedy or Willow. When I got there… the sacrifice the demons used bore more than a passing resemblance to Willow. It was eerily so, in fact I immediately called Willow. I told her it was to check on when she'd make it but… I wanted to be sure, even though I'd spoken to her just awhile earlier." Giles busied himself with fixing the tea, looking away from Buffy. "What was done to the girl… I'm not sure how much of it Xander saw but… We know how protective he is of Willow."

Buffy's voice trembled. "I remember. He threatened me once, over her." At Giles sudden intense look, she continued. "It was after I came back to school, when you'd all been kidnapped to try and bring back the Master. He… he told me that if they hurt Willow he'd kill me." A silence stretched on longer than comfortable. "Giles, he meant it."

"I know. I didn't tell Willow about this, Buffy, for a reason. I don't want her to feel responsible, it wasn't her fault."

"I know Giles, I won't say anything, I promise." Buffy stood there and watched as Giles finished with the tea. It was minutes before she caught his eye and searched his face as she asked, "Do you think he'll make it home?"

A fatherly smile crossed Giles lips. "Buffy, if anyone could it would be him. And we know that others have come through portals before. Suffice to say, I have already bought a box of Twinkies in anticipation of his return."


	11. 10

How many weeks had he been here now? Had it become months? He'd honestly tried to count, but the days would blur into a haze of pain. Every fiber of his being hurt and it had nothing to do with his 'training'. It wasn't a paralyzing force yet, but Xander thought it might be soon. He even spoke of the pain to Medusa, the female who had helped heal him, but he wasn't sure if it was simply what was supposed to be happening to him or if his stilted grasp of their language kept him from conveying it properly.

As the time went by, Xander settled fully into the routine Shooey had established of him. In the morning the manual labor, afternoons were spent sparring and then the rest of the day spent stroking the odd glowing plants.

Not only was his grasp of their language improving, his sparring matches had gotten better. He still lost repeatedly and violently, but he managed to do it with less injury. The matches lasted longer and were more intense. He'd begun to anticipate the attacks and block them accordingly, several matches ending not because of his lack of skill but because of his exhaustion. Even with this improvement, during this time he still had not managed to connect a single strike against Shooey. He would acquire new scars but Shooey was always intact.

In one moment, one significant moment that like so many of the most important moments of his life came unheralded, everything changed. Later Xander would come to think that Shooey had planned it all out, but at the time he merely thought the creature had grown frustrated with him. That Shooey did it as a punishment. Only later did he begin to believe it was meant to push him to fulfill his potential.

The sparring match began as usual. Xander had the ever-present snakes slide off his arms, removed his glowing gem necklace and shrugged off the living robe he'd been wearing over his loin-cloth, his real clothes having finally died weeks before. He moved into his regular position as Shooey tossed him a training stick. As he stood there, Shooey walked over to where he had laid his robe and reached into the pocket and pulled out Xander's most prized possession.

Since he'd come through the portal to this world Xander had lost everything he came with except that one item. His lifeline and his tormenter. The wallet had been saved and protected since he'd arrived and while it contained some bittersweet memories in its pictures it also held a personal treasure. When Sunnydale has been destroyed they hadn't had time to prepare to leave, they hadn't packed up bags or anything. They escaped with the clothes on their backs, the possessions in their pockets. In Xander's pocket had been his wallet and pictures of the people he cared about. Now, with Sunnydale gone, it held one of the only remaining pictures of Anya.

Shooey threw Xander's wallet into the fire at the center of camp then placed himself between it and Xander, his intentions clear. It was a moment that caused a fundamental shift in who Xander was and would be. In the weeks prior he was just doing what he needed to do to survive. Once he realized that, despite the harsh treatment, Shooey didn't actually want him dead he had settled in. He did try his best, he learned but it was just to get by. He hadn't fully committed himself in any of the fights since at the beginning. He, in a form, had grown complacent.

All complacency was gone for this battle. Xander knew there would be no use trying to talk to Shooey now, he was a creature of action. The only thing left that Xander cared for was in the fire. As Xander felt the fear and anger rise in him, as he charged Shooey head-on like he hadn't done since the early training sessions, He wondered how long a photo would last in the fire? It was the last thought Xander had before he attacked.

Shooey waited on Xander to move closer, his momentum building as he saw Xander telegraphing his attack to come from the right, a slash to his midsection. Shooey balanced his weight and brought his training stick to block in time. That was the intention. Instead of the slash he was telegraphing, Xander kept his momentum and slammed into Shooey with his left shoulder. The hit was enough to make Shooey stumble backwards, but even as the seasoned warrior stumbled he fought. His training stick slashed back, opening a gash on Xander's forehead and releasing a gush of blood over Xander's sealed left eye.

Even as his face was dealt a slash, Xander completed the slash to Shooey's midsection that he had telegraphed, scoring a long deep gash along Shooey's stomach that released dark ichor. Following the momentum of his upper-body for the slash, Xander tried to kick Shooey's knee, but only managed to slam his shin into the joint. The leg straightened, further unbalancing Shooey. Xander, having hit the knee at the wrong angle, ended up falling on the ground while Shooey was regaining his balance. Moving quickly on the ground, Xander tuned his body and slammed his training stick into the back of the knee he'd hit, and once the stick connected he moved it in a sawing motion that produced more blood from Shooey and forced the knee to collapse.

As Shooey fell to the ground Xander's foot flew at his face, connecting hard and racking his head back. Xander had never fought this way. He knew he should capitalize on having stunned Shooey, but this fight was for a reason, so he crawled to the fire as fast as he could, ramming his hands into the flames. He didn't even notice the heat as he grasped his wallet. He began to pull his body away from the fire, seeing that his wallet hadn't started to darken yet, when a foot landed between his shoulder blades.

Xander struggled, trying to rock his body side-to-side to remove the weight, but it held fast keeping him pinned to the ground. Shooey reached down and yanked the wallet out of Xander's hands and dropped it back into the fire. Shooey leaned down and growled into Xander's ear. From what Xander had learned of the language, Shooey had said "Fight as taught, earn your," something Xander didn't recognize, "and keep." Xander continued his struggles to dislodge the weight on his back from the larger Shooey, his rocking failing in throwing Shooey but succeeding in getting his elbows under him. Leveraging up enough on his elbows, Xander grabbed the foot Shooey had on the ground and yanked it to him.

The move caught Shooey off guard and the weight on Xander diminished enough for Xander to crawl forward. Again he grabbed his wallet heedless of the flames. The wallet in his hand Xander rolled on to his back and threw it back toward his robe just before Shooey's foot caught his wrist eliciting a solid crack and depriving Xander of any feeling in it.

A kick from Shooey's bad leg was nearly enough to make his head spin around. Xander rolled the best he could, but the kick still caused a spray of blood to fly from his mouth.. As he took a breath and rolled from the presumed follow up, he got a surprise as Shooey didn't immediately capitalize on Xander's pain. Instead Xander saw him going over to the robe where the wallet had been thrown. Getting to his feet Xander made another charge at Shooey. As he built up a small bit of momentum he saw Shooey stop before he got to the robe and Xander saw why. The snakes had curled around his wallet and were baring their fangs. One made an attempt to bite Shooey the same moment that Xander drove his shoulder into Shooey's knee.

The hit moved Shooey out of the path of the snakes' fangs and moved Xander right into it. The snake clamped hard on his shoulder as Xander was tangled with Shooey's. Xander got to his feet first and aimed a kick at Shooey's head which missed by inches as Shooey rolled away from it and the snakes. Shooey came up to his feet looking surprised at Xander, he quickly balanced his weight off his hurt knee and held his training stick at the ready. Somewhere along the way Xander had lost his training stick but he hardly thought it mattered now He ran at Shooey, trying to spike him like he was sliding into second base.

Shooey saw the move coming and shifted his leg out of the way and slashed at Xander's neck, only to have the blow land hard on Xander's forearm. Moving his arm, Xander locked the stick against himself and gripped it with his right hand, trying to pull it from Shooey even as it sliced into his hand. Shooey slammed down on top of him, his fist connecting solidly with Xander's jaw. Xander had been hit in the face before though by beings stronger and faster than this demon. He rolled with the hit and scampered away from Shooey. He got up quickly and managed to connect a solid kick to Shooey's neck that surprised the creature.

Trying to keep Shooey down, Xander rained punches on him, barely noticing as his knuckles were opened and his blood mingled with Shooey's. The punches kept falling until Shooey grabbed his fist and pulled Xander down, rolling him onto his back and pinning him down with his training stick across Xander's throat. Shooey's horrific face twisted into what Xander had associated with a smile as Shooey growled out "Good. Stay here."

From previous sparring matches, Xander knew this one was over even if it wasn't like any before. He'd managed to hurt Shooey, he'd almost won in fact. He'd fought hard for something he cared for, something beyond his life and he'd survived and nearly won. And now Shooey would expect every match to go like this, Xander wouldn't be allowed to hold back again. Something in Xander liked that, liked that he wouldn't be able to just get by as he had been. He lay there on the ground as his breath returned to normal, his eye watching the clouds while keeping his snakes, guarding his wallet, in his peripheral vision. He could tell he was in store for more fights like this.

Shooey returned holding something folded, a small gelatinous ball and one of the bone knives that he'd seen around the camp. When he got next to Xander he grabbed Xander's hair and pulled him up until Xander was kneeling. Shooey's words, despite Xander's growing grasp of the language, were mostly lost on him. He managed to make out "did well" and "reward" but without the other words he had no context. Then he felt the knife cut through his hair and saw it fall to the ground in front of him. This continued until Shooey was running the bone knife against Xander's scalp and Xander's head no longer held any hair.

Shooey stood Xander up. Xander wasn't sure what was happening before pain, different than the constant pain he'd had, began at his feet and flowing up. It felt like every pore was being stabbed at once. He felt and saw something sliding over his face and skin as the pain flowed up. He managed not to fall to the ground or scream, but nearly lost his balance again. He was still trying to regain his breath when Shooey forced him back to his knees and pulled a long, reed-like object from the fire. Xander hadn't noticed it there as he'd fought for his wallet. "Still," Shooey said as he brought the hot reed to Xander's head. The heat didn't burn Xander as much as he expected, but he had to fight to keep from screaming as Shooey marked a swirling pattern into his scalp.

It wasn't easy but Xander managed to get through the ordeal. He saw Shooey reach into the gelatinous ball and pull out a small grub-like thing. Shooey moved the grub to Xander's ear. He felt it as it wiggled through his ear and into his head, causing no small amount of pain before it settled down.

"You may go to the shaper now," Shooey said to Xander. Xander's head whipped around at Shooey.

"What? You can speak English? Why are you just -" Xander started to question Shooey. A shove from Shooey stopped him.

"You must go now," Shooey said, "you are allowed your infidel possession. You have proved some worth today, and you may keep it if you continue to fight as you have today." Shooey walked away from Xander to speak with another creature. Xander had seen the creature there before the match, but hadn't really taken notice. It had often watched them, and always seemed displeased to see Xander doing anything. Xander went to pick up his things when he heard Shooey and the other creature yelling. The fight stopped before it could really start when the other creature walked away.

Xander collected his things and went to see Medusa who he assumed was the shaper. He entered the cave and presented his left wrist, while, as usual, his other hand acquired and applied some goo from one of the creatures to seal his wounds. Medusa pulled Xander's wrist straight and looked at it, causing Xander to grimace and say, "I really need a better HMO."

"You always speak and say so little. You should be with the priest caste. They were just as worthless. Why Shoon-mi has chosen to train you as a warrior is not known to me in terms other than foolishness." Medusa broke the skin at Xander's wrist and put a bug under it. It was the first time Xander understood what she said

Xander looked at the bug wriggling under his skin. It wasn't so long ago that something like that would have sent him running in fear. Now he accepted it as part of his daily life. Feeling the thing moving around his wrist he spoke to Medusa. "I can understand you, how can I understand you when I haven't been able to since I got here?"

"It took us some time to grow new tizowyrms so we could understand each other. We've been able to understand you for weeks now. Shoon-mi hadn't thought you'd earned the tizowyrm yet, apparently you've impressed him," she said as she pulled the bug out from his skin again. "Only fractured, it's fine. Weak humans." She turned her back to him, speaking over her shoulder. "Back to your tasks now, it will heal."

"Wait, if we can speak you can tell me where I am. Who are you? What's going on?" Xander asked.

"You are Shoon-mi's pupil, that is all. Now go tend to your work, human."

Xander tried again to speak to her but she didn't reply. After a minute he left the cave-like building and headed back into the fields. The tizowyrm, Xander decided, was a good thing, since he could understand the other creatures now. Unfortunately, by being able to understand them, he found out from their conversations that by and large they all hated him. From what he'd heard, only Shoon-mi's protection had kept Xander from being killed. Xander stroked the plant distractedly as all the new information filtered through his mind.

When the duties were through, Xander walked to the small stream, one of his few liberties. Hunched over the stream he drank some of the cool fresh water. Then he saw his reflection. He no longer looked like himself. His face now had bony protrusions and his skin's color had faded to a grey-white. Around his eyes the skin had darkened and looked sunken in. He now looked like the creatures. A maddened chuckle bubbled forth from Xander as he saw himself and despaired over this new look and wondered if this was how he would look from now on.

Inspecting his reflection the nagging familiarity of the look of himself, of the creatures, returned with frightening strength. Finally a memory surfaced and Xander's chuckling stopped cold and his eye widened. "It couldn't be… I mean, it just couldn't…" Slowly Xander raised his right hand and ran a finger over the side of his nose.

The reaction was immediate. Xander's new face, new skin, began to peel off exposing his true face and head, still bruised and freshly scarred and marked. "No…" Xander wrapped his arms around himself as the skin peeled off and he began to cry. "It can't be… it can't be an ooglith masquer… they're… Oh fuck! I'm living with the Yuuzhan Vong!"


	12. 11

Realizing the true depth of trouble he was in, Xander decided he had nothing to lose from trying to meditate. So when he returned to his room, he struck up a relaxing position and tried to calm down. It was difficult to really meditate. It was nearly impossible, Xander found, to reach any kind of meditative state while his body was wracked with pain and he was panicking on the inside.

With deep breaths Xander managed to calm himself down and review what he knew about his hosts. What was in the books he'd read. They weren't demons but aliens. Aliens that were alien even by the extremes of his science fiction. They would have given the Shadows the heebies. They'd destroyed the habitable worlds in their home galaxy, were cast out of the Force, destroyed three-hundred trillion sentients in the Star Wars galaxy, nearly took over the galaxy. They were finally, more or less, defeated and the remaining Yuuzhan Vong fled or settled on Zonama Sekot.

Xander gave up the meditative pose and began to pace, trying not to dwell on just how much worse things could get. Like how the ooglith masquer made his forehead slope, or the scars that now marked his place with the Yuuzhan Vong. "Okay, I know who they are and I know where I am dimension-wise… What planet am I on?"

Reviewing what he could remember, he thought that all the Yuuzhan Vong bioweaponry and such had reverted to their wild forms when they got on Sekot, which probably ruled it out. "So you two," Xander said looking at the snakes, no, the amphistaffs on his arms, "wouldn't be hanging on me or turning into blades." They'd be out in the wild. So that meant he was with the ones who didn't go to Zonama Sekot. "And that means all bets are off… So why haven't they killed me?"

He considered this while pacing. "Because I killed the demons and impressed Shooey… er… Shoon-mi. That doesn't tell me where I am… Wait… The trees. Shit, the trees and the lightning." Xander remembered the trees and the lightning from the books, something about it starting the seeds or something. "That's Zonama Sekot, I remember that. I think." So why was it letting him go through all of this?

He stopped suddenly. Maybe because he was outside of the Force? He mulled this thought over and resumed pacing. "So in my home dimension we don't have the Force or midichlorians or any of that, so I'm just as invisible as the Yuuzhan Vong were, maybe more so. There goes any chance of me having some kick-ass Jedi powers. 'These are not the droids you're looking for.' 'You will get me a soda.' 'I'm Rick James, bitch!' Okay, stop! Fantasize later and review now… Wait…

"You bit me," Xander said to the amphistaffs. "You both have bit me, like, repeatedly. But I'm alive." Xander remembered from the books just how poisonous the amphistaffs were. He decided they must have given him some of the anti-venom for the bites, but he couldn't remember that it lasted. Perhaps he had immunity do it. "Am I immune guys?" Xander asked the amphistaffs "Fine, don't answer. But you two do respond to me, don't you? More than the physical commands." Xander knew the amphistaffs guarded his wallet in the last fight with Shoon-mi. There was nothing that he could remember about the amphistaffs bonding that well in the books. "Shit, wish I could remember more about the books."

Xander stood still and focused a moment, imagining the amphistaffs uncoiling from his arms and going over to his bed. Still, he was surprised when they followed his commands. He tested repeatedly, calling them to him and sending them away. This small level of control helped to calm him, to know he wasn't completely powerless. "Maybe it's like Jacen, when the Yuuzhan Vong put that slave seed in him… He could feel the Yuuzhan Vong through it, maybe all the crap they've put in me let's me do the same. Okay, I'm not panicking now, I'm still talking to myself but that's okay I think. Yeah, it's fine. Maybe not that I'm starting to answer myself, but I don't think I should worry about that. Yeah, I agree." Xander decided to try to meditate again and see if he could feel the Yuuzhan Vong around him. "And maybe I can stop talking to myself."

Xander settled himself on the floor of his room and steadied his breathing. With his eyes closed he focused on trying to feel where the amphistaffs were in the room, without moving them to where he thought they'd be. It didn't take long before he could feel where they were with little difficulty. He realized that would come in handy if Shoon-mi ever moved on to live weapons training.

The success with the amphistaffs, creatures he knew he already had a connection with, led Xander to try and feel other Yuuzhan Vong live around him. He focused first on the ooglith masquer he wore, feeling its presence. Its cool constant presence different than what he had expected. It had a soft thrum to it that felt like an extension of himself. He idly wondered if it became a part of him when it latched onto him through his pores. Then came the tizowyrm. It felt less like something separate but rather like a part of him. It was a little disturbing to think of and Xander moved on quickly.

The robe Xander would wear was next that he felt. There was no real feeling to it except a slight… for want of a better word, hunger. A need for sustenance. Xander made a mental note to wear the robe more. If he remembered it right from the books it would be a great exfoliant since it basically fed off dead skin, sweat and things Xander didn't want to dwell on right then.

During Xander's conversation with himself, he had forgotten the existence of the next thing he touched with his Vongsense, a word he stole directly from the books. The sunstone, no, the lambent crystal that hung around Xander's neck flared with a thought from him. Xander tried to figure out why his first thoughts were that his amphistaffs were the bridge to the Vongsense when the lambent crystal made more sense. It's what Anakin had used, after all. However, he kept coming back to the thought that it was the amphistaffs. Putting those thoughts away for the moment, Xander kept extending his senses.

He felt the walls of his room and could feel the Yuuzhan Vong moving outside. Xander began to wonder how he could use these feelings the next time he was sparring with Shoon-mi. Maybe he'd manage to win the next one. Smiling at the thought, Xander continued to try and stretch out his senses as more and more things came into focus. Things he hadn't even thought of as being of the Yuuzhan Vong.

Xander had been stretching out with his feelings for several long, arduous hours when he felt something large and different. He didn't know what it was, but it felt massive and powerful. It was a tentative probe, a mental image of basically a finger with an eye on it, to poke the presence. The thing didn't seem to notice Xander, but he could feel the power of it and quickly brought back all of his senses. Focusing on himself, he tried his best to make his own presence small. Focusing wasn't easy with the fear he was feeling, but in the end he managed to lock his feelings up. He couldn't feel anything except Yuuzhan Vong creatures that had become bonded to him.

Xander wiped a load of sweat from his brow with an audible sigh, and decided he wouldn't attempt something like that again anytime soon. He didn't know what it was, and hoped that it wouldn't notice him. "Especially if I'm still talking to myself," he muttered. With a shake of his head Xander moved from the meditative position and threw himself on the bed, tired and shaky for a long nights sleep.

As Xander slept, Zonama Sekot searched for the presence it briefly felt. The planet knew it was important somehow and would now be on the look out for it.


End file.
